In 1887, heir to the Jameson whiskey fortune, James Sligo Jameson (creative name) joined an expedition in Africa to save Emin Pasha (the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition). You’re not going to learn about THIS Jameson family member on the Jameson Distillery tour. But, it’s a fascinating tale so I want to share it with you.
Warning: This isn’t for the faint of heart so continue at your own risk…
First: Some Backstory
Emin Pasha (born Eduard Schnitzer) was a European doctor who became the German governor of what is now South Sudan and was one of the great travelers/explorers of his time. There was a revolt and Pasha got stuck behind enemy lines with very little communication with the rest of the world. Henry Morton Stanley organized the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, funded by the Egyptian government, to go “save” him. If his name sounds familiar, Stanley’s the same dude who saved Dr. David Livingstone in Africa some years before this.
There were 2 columns of men on the expedition. Stanley forged ahead with the first column and ordered another man to head up the rear column and await supplies and men at Yambuya on the Aruwimi river. James S. Jameson was one of the leaders of the rear column. The rear column was officially led by Edmund Musgrave Barttelot.
This rear column committed terrible human rights violations. I’m talking atrocities against the native people. But, Jameson’s alleged appetite for atrocity was particularly disturbing.
James S. Jameson’s Alleged Dark Obsession
James S. Jameson was allegedly obsessed with cannibalism. According to the translator who was working with the rear column, Assad Farran, Jameson allegedly purchased a 10-year old native girl (for 6 handkerchiefs). Then, he had cannibals murder her, dismember her, and eat her while (or before) he painted watercolors of the whole thing.
Yeah.
I say “allegedly” because whether this was intentional or not is questionable. His own words paint a different picture:
I sent my boy for six handkerchiefs, thinking it was all a joke, and that they were not in earnest, but presently a man appeared, leading a young girl of about 10 years old by the hand, and then I witnessed the most horribly sickening sight I am ever likely to see in my life. He plunged a knife quickly into her breast twice, and she fell on her face, turning over on her side. Three men then ran forward, and began to cut up the body of the girl; finally her head was cut off, and not a particle remained, each man taking his piece away down to the river to wash it. The most extraordinary thing was that the girl never muttered a sound, nor struggled, until she fell.
Letter from J. Jameson to his wife, as reported in “A Grisly Drop on History,” published in The Irish Times, October 10, 2009
In a letter published in the New York Times in 1890, Jameson denied that he asked for them to kill the girl. He said that the translator was lying. He said he didn’t sketch the cannibals eating the girl because he didn’t have time to. But, he admitted to sketching it from memory when he got home that evening. O….kay…..
Who Do You Believe?
Welp, it seems like there’s no question that a little girl was murdered and then dismembered and eaten by cannibals in front of James S. Jameson. This could also be a lie, however, based on racist attitudes toward African people. But, if it’s true, the question is whether James S. Jameson asked for it to happen or inadvertently caused it to happen. What do YOU think?
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